This is a log of the Current Thing to see how long Thing cycles last.
The Current Thing is Abortion, which began 6/24, but became the Current Thing on 6/25.
The Current Thing is Scheme, which began in 1975, but became the Current Thing in 2018.
Someone should set up a Current Thing tracker that scans NYT headlines and twitter trends and then outputs the Current Thing for people who can't keep up.
It feels like we're between Current Things right now. I thought abortion would really take off but we're back to tepid articles about Ukraine and some boring new COVID variant.
Someone should set up a Current Thing tracker that scans NYT headlines and twitter trends and then outputs the Current Thing for people who can't keep up.
This was the idea that led to this post. It would also provide an API so that people could just filter every mention of it from their feeds.
Not a bad idea. Start with just identifying it, though. There must be some way to distinguish Current Thing from current news. Little flags and icons on twitter and other social media, for example, seem to be highly indicative of a Current Thing.
>>6
Really, instead of automating it, you just need an editorial team voting and to keep a checklist of good rules of thumb. "Have people started putting lawn ornaments out?" "Do people suddenly have opinions about this thing that they didn't know existed last week?" Stuff like that. I still think abortion is the current thing, given these litmus tests.
>>7
Everyone on that editorial team would need to score zero on agreeableness or have a valid autism diagnosis, because the Current Thing, by its nature, is a total mind virus.
You'd need to adjust for region as well. Some Current Things are global, but some are not. Abortion probably is limited to the US as a Current Thing, although it's telling that the EU and Canada both felt the need to weigh in.
Here in Canada, we had a six month Current Thing about the alleged (still never proven) discovery of mass graves at residential schools for indigenous people. There were church burnings, marches, attacks on statues, and all that. I think you're right about the lawn ornament marker. The signature of that one was the sudden appearance of orange shirts everywhere. On people, in windows, and even hanging from trees in front yards.
I don't get why people feel the need to virtue signal about not caring about current events. If I don't care I don't care, I don't feel the need to convince others that I am superior to them because of it (of course I don't think I am, maybe that's why I don't get it).
>>9 contrarianism is fun try it sometime unless you have to care about what other people think of you
virtue signals about not caring about not caring about the current event
thinks he's better than others because he lacks self-awareness
If you actually didn't give a shit, you'd have stayed silent.
I care about you.
youtube is nao owned by j00gle ip collecters
The Current Thing is now Taiwan.
bushy
shorn